Flying Blind
by Z33
Summary: Vision is a beautiful thing...
1. 1

_Disclaimer:_

_ laptop computer: $1700_

_internet connection: $15/month_

_registration to : free_

_Writing unauthorized fanfiction and actually having it reviewed: priceless _

_It should also be noted that this takes place outside of the continuity of the show. It simply is. Hope you enjoy!_

**1 **

Hawkgirl sat up, jarringly awake. For a moment, she thought that it had all been a nightmare, that she had merely been sleeping and the dream brought on by exhaustion. But when she blinked a few times and ran a hand in front of her face, all she could see was darkness.

It was no dream - she was blind.

Fear filled her and she cried out, clawing at the tubes in her arms. The beeping of machines told her that she was in the Watchtower's sickbay. Maybe the lights were out - if they were on, she might be able to see something, anything. Even a shadow would give her hope that her sight would be able to be restored.

Fueled by desperation, she stumbled from the bed and crashed into the walls twice before finding the light panel beside the room's door. Hawkgirl pressed the button she knew would turn the lights on, but nothing changed. Her vision was still dark.

Hitting the button with her fist, she felt the hot trail of tears run down her face and suddenly realized that her mask wasn't on. She was so wound up that she wasn't able to think clearly enough to remember which direction her bed was in.

Her anger at being so helpless blew up and she began to lash out at the light panel, gouging it with her nails.

She heard the hiss of the door beside her, and a cool breath of air from the corridor outside told her that the door had opened and closed. Hawkgirl paused, thinking that maybe she had hit the "door open" button by accident, but strong hands grabbed her arms and pried her hands away from the light panel.

Finally able to vent her anger, born of despair, on another person, she turned towards the arms and began to lash out in the general area of where their head might be. Each strike was deftly blocked, but the person made no other move to stop her from trying.

Finally, worn out and still weak from being in bed for so long, her tears got the best of her and her legs began to go weak beneath her. The person caught her and held her up, letting her cry herself out on his chest.

Shaking like a leaf from a mixture of exhaustion and her emotional outburst, a thought suddenly made her pull away from the supporting arms.

"Who - who is this?" If it was the Flash, she wasn't sure she would be able to live with herself. It could conceivably be J'onn or maybe Green Lantern, and the muscles didn't feel hard enough to be Superman's...

The person let go of her just long enough for her to decide that she couldn't stand on her own. "Batman."

And for some reason, that was more reassuring than any of the other possible answers. Maybe it was because she knew that he would be nothing other than professional about the whole thing.

"This room is soundproof, you know that."

"Then how -?"

"When you hit the light panel, it sent a signal to the main computer. I was on watch."

Hawkgirl's knees tried to give away again, but Batman caught her once more. Scooping her up, he deposited her on the hospital bed and stepped away, letting her settle herself.

She heard him step to the side and a new set of beeps began. She knew that he was making noise just for her - going out of his way to let her know exactly where in the room her was.

"Your vitals are all reading fine, everything has stabilized. From here on out you only need to focus on getting your strength back. You're dehydrated, but you can start eating whatever you like as soon as you feel up to it." It was all said in his usual calm, monotone voice - although she wasn't sure if he knew that it had the double effect of helping to calm her frayed nerves.

"And my eyes?" she asked hesitantly.

"We don't know."

She nodded and rested her head back on the pillow.

"When you are healthier, I'll run a few tests to discover the full extent of the damage." Here he paused, and Hawkgirl tilted her head in the direction of his voice, wondering what he wasn't telling her. "It's possible that I can make something that will allow you to see again - but there's only a very slim chance of it working."

Meaning, don't get your hopes up. Hawkgirl nodded again, telling herself sternly not to let herself believe it. That way, when it failed, she wouldn't be set up for such a hard fall.

There was more rustling as she heard him step closer to her bed. "I'm going to re-insert the IV right now. All it contains is something to keep you from becoming more dehydrated than you already are. As of right now, I'm taking you off all of the medications except for pain killers.

"J'onn is the next person on watch, but I'll be around until I can fix the light panel."

Hawkgirl yawned, beginning to suspect that Batman had added a little something extra to the IV, despite his assurances. "I'm sorry -"

"Don't be. I'll be back a little later with a tool kit." And with that, Hawkgirl heard him walk out of the room and the door whispered shut behind him.


	2. 2

Diana bit her lip and shifted to the right, not sure what more to do. Hawkgirl crossed her arms and gave her a glare, hoping that it still had the same impact.

"Just leave already! I'll be fine," she snapped. Shayera knew that she was only taking her anger out on the Princess because she was the closest target. It wasn't fair and she'd probably feel guilty later on, but right now all she wanted to be was alone.

She could almost feel the mixed waves of irritation and sympathy radiating from Wonder Woman as she stood up and left the room without another word. _Just because she goes out of her way to treat others with kindness all the time doesn't mean that everyone else should be expected to too_, she thought uncharitably.

Then she forced her hands to unclench and her muscles to relax. Diana had just given her the full story on the fight – and how it came to be that she was blinded. They had been fighting Luthor and several of his cohorts, including Star Sapphire. Shayera had lunged at a thug, only to have her vision suddenly explode into a bright white before she passed out from a blow to the head a second later.

Wonder Woman told her that Batman had thrown one of his exploding light pellets at the thug she was lunging at. He hadn't expected her to move when she did and was unable to check his throw. Her mace had connected with the pellet and the electricity had made it explode with much greater intensity than normal.

It was this flash that had blinded her and it was the rock she landed on as she fell, stunned, that caused her to pass out.

Diana had gone on to say that Batman had been extremely touchy ever since and hadn't let anybody but J'onn help him with her while she had been unconscious. Nobody had known until last night when she woke up so dramatically for the first time that she had suffered any real damage from the accident.

The Princess paused for a moment before saying that the Dark Knight had only told the rest of them that she had been distraught when she had come to consciousness, obviously waiting to see if Shayera would expand on that statement.

Hawkgirl didn't feel so inclined.

She was angry, of course, but it was a general anger. It wouldn't be fair to blame everything on Batman – she had been the one to move without warning and break from the pattern of attack. Part of it _was_ her fault. He hadn't intended to hurt her – but he had and she knew that it was going to take a little time before she forgave him.

Well… it certainly put the night before into a different light.

Ten minutes later, the door quietly swished open once more, but the person didn't come any further into the room and the door didn't close. Shayera heard the metallic clink on a heavy object being set on the floor. A moment or two of rummaging and then she heard a _click_ and smelled the hot tang of a soldering tool.

The soft hiss of a cape brushing against the floor confirmed her suspicions. Batman had come to fix the door panel.

Her temper flared up. He had to know what she was feeling… How dare he come in here so soon! Hawkgirl wanted to throw something at him, but she knew it wouldn't do any good and it might mess up whatever he was doing with the electronics.

It was five minutes before she heard the snap of the plastic being set back into place and then the room went perfectly silent.

There was a sudden metallic tinkling close to her right and she scowled in the direction. Then she heard a rumble as something heavy was rolled closer to her bed.

Batman spoke up from her left. "I'm going to try and assess what's wrong now. If you'd just look straight ahead and try not to blink…" He trailed off as she did as she was told.

Shayera stopped herself from flinching as he touched her cheek lightly to adjust the level of her head slightly. There was another click and then the sound of electronics powering up and then she was suddenly recoiling, hands up, instinctively readying herself for another punch.

But it wasn't a punch that had caused the lancing pain through her head. Feeling slightly stupid for her reaction, she heard Batman asking her for the second time, "What happened?"

She shook her head, wiping the water from her eyes. "It… hurt?" It came out as a question – her anger gone in the face of the hope that she was trying to hold back in case it meant nothing.

"Yes," he was obviously being more verbose for her benefit as he knew she couldn't see the slight nod he usually gave – but he managed to convey the same image by the way he said the words. "That means that there are some nerves still functioning. Did you see anything? Any burst of light?"

The bubble popped. "No."

There was the sound of his cape slipping over the tiles. "I've never studied your eyes. They differ on several levels from a human's and I'm going to have to do a little more research before I can run a more thorough test."

She just nodded as the sound of the cape was masked by the sound of the door opening and closing.

And then she was alone once more.

-------------

Batman kept his face perfectly motionless as he swept through the main room of the Tower, making his way swiftly towards the teleportation units. Superman looked up at him as he passed, trying to catch his eye.

The Dark Knight knew what he would say. He'd try and have a "talk" and tell him that he wasn't to blame.

It was better to keep walking and head straight for the cave. He had several ideas he needed to look into and he didn't need distractions from the rest of the League. They should be focusing their sympathies on Hawkgirl…

----------------

From one of the levels above, Wonder Woman watched the shadowy figure glide past and frowned. She had a feeling that not everybody injured in the accident was in the Tower's sickbay…


End file.
